The smaller model is interesting. I guess it can be carried on a car roof. It is stable enough to be sailable by a complete beginner, and it will be ok for sure in light wind, even if the hull is not super long. It will also be great as a non-sailing water platform for the kids to play. If they can only figure how to sell it cheaper than a Start, it would be a good entry / family product. Maybe by getting rid of the fin and the footstraps, and by using a different construction such as rotomoulding they could achieve it? Make sure to keep the beer can holders and Costco will carry some!!

9th May 2011 03:06 PM

nakaniko

Even if the new model (prototype?) the Super Cat seems more easy to carry, with a narrow and wide width choice, but with less room for a passenger compared to the Serenity Cat.
But a stable board that can immediatly enjoy the new rider in light winds imho is better than a wide single hull board that helps immediatly to learn, but become little boring after the first days, and none gives a 10 mq sail to a novice for planing with a Start.

8th May 2011 04:47 PM

Unregistered

Very interesting concept

While I am into Windsurfing for many years I never could convince my wife. I just showed her the Serenity Cat and she was intrigued by it and would go for a try.
Great innovation, please go on with your great ideas.
Markus

19th September 2010 04:04 PM

ZedZdeD

The idea behind that, that there's more to windsurfing than speed and waves, is very positive and interesting.

18th September 2010 12:03 PM

Del Carpenter

As a windsurfer with a wife who has no interest in becoming a windsurfer, how do I get her to join me spending time on the water when I am windsurfing? If she had her choice between riding on a sailing cat or on the deck of a tandem windsurfer, she would choose the sailing cat. With the Starboard Serenity Cat I could be windsurfing while my wife relaxes on the deck. I know this for sure, because she will already go out on the water with me on our car top-able, tiny sailboat. I would rather have a Starboard Serenity Cat and windsurf while she lounges. (The deck on the XS Speed windsurfing cat we have now is not large enough for comfortable lounging,)

17th September 2010 08:27 PM

imbrooks

The cat looks intriguing, but I think the product which really seems interesting is the Gemini.

The Gemini is a product I would consider buying once I have a family and small kids. With just the mainsail attached, the Gemini forward deck looks large enough to accomodate two small children, or one child and a dog as passengers. (Or even a reluctant wife ).

Once the child gets old enough, you could fit it w/ a baby sail just to get the child more involved (sort of like those parent-child bikes where the kid turns a set of pedals that are not really attached to the chain.). Then eventaully it can be fitted w/ a trainer sail/iDo. And most importantly, it is car-toppable -- whereas it looks like the Cat would not be.

The Cat to me looks like something to be sold to resorts, or perhaps customers who are lucky enough to live full-time on a lake or bay. Anyways, kudos to Starboard for their continuing innovation.

17th September 2010 03:02 AM

Jean-Marc

The concept looks very interesting for sure. How about a removable platform like those found on Hobbie cat's trampoline? No need anymore for a trailer...

I have an XS Speed windsurfing catamaran from the late 1980's. I bet the additional waterline length of the Starboard Cat will run circles around the XS Speed especially in low to moderate wind. (The XS Speed is about 9 ft 6 inches long and 40 inches wide, about like the original Start.)

I emailed a link to the Starboard Cat videos to a windsurfing friend with two young children. His comment: "When I saw the picture I had doubts. After seeing the video I think it's GREAT!"

I think Starboard's Cat will be expensive as windsurfer, but competitive in cost compared with a Sunfish or a Laser or a Hobie of any size. And it will be vastly more fun for the pilot and the "crew" than those small sailboats.

The pictures & video make me think the Starboard cat will require a trailer. That is a new marketing and design issue for Starboard. Ultimately a successful Starboard Cat will be another dilution of company focus. But I think windsurfing will benefit from a successful Starboard Cat as more people learn most of the sailing aspects of windsurfing before they have to tackle the balance aspects.

14th September 2010 05:55 PM

John Kemsley

Serenity Cat

This is an interesting, if not new concept.

In the early ninetees Weymouth Sailing Club hosted a day for Disabled adults and children. One of the craft we used was a cat made from two big Vntna,s with a platform between them. This was attached to mast tracks and footstrap screw holes.

Disabled passenger lay on platfoem and we sailed.

As I remember it was a pig to sail, but the joy on the faces made it such a cool day.